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International Arcade Museum® — Killer List of Videogames®

Frisky Tom

Description

You play Tom who is trying to get water from the top tank to the shower tank below. Mice interfere with his plans by stealing pipes, blowing-up pipes and by biting Tom. If Tom fills the tank he is rewarded by a girl taking a shower.

Frisky Tom was produced by Nichibutsu in 1981.

Nichibutsu released 93 machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1979. Nichibutsu was based in Japan.

Other machines made by Nichibutsu during the time period Frisky Tom was produced include: Moon Alien Part II, Moon Alpha, Moon Cresta, Moon Quasar, Moon Raker, Moon Shuttle, Star Attack, Space Fighter X, Constella, and Radical Radial

Specs

Name	Frisky Tom
Developer	Nichibutsu (Japan)
Year	1981
Type	Videogame
KLOV/MOG #	7854
Class	Wide Release
Genre	Platform
Monitor	Orientation: Horizontal Type: Raster: Standard Resolution Color: Color
Conversion Class	unique
Game Specific	Frisky Tom Pinout
# Simultaneous Players	1
# Maximum Players	2
Game Play	Alternating
Control Panel Layout	Single Player
Controls	Joystick: 4-way (up, down, left, right)
Sound	Amplified Mono (one channel)
Cabinet Styles	Upright/Standard

Game Play

The object is to get as much water to the lady's shower as possible. The mice try to stop this by knocking loose parts of the pipe, which you must catch or pick up and then put back.

Tom can move along the floor where he is fastest as well as climb up and slide along pipes. Tom can slide along horizontal lengths as well as bridge himself across short gaps and to nearby vertical pipes. Vertically, Tom can only climb vertical pipes, but he can reach across short gaps above or below to other vertical pipes.

There are three kinds of mice. The yellow mice are safe, and Tom can knock them off for points. Once a yellow mouse knocks off a piece of pipe, however, he turns purple and becomes dangerous. A purple mouse will also plant the bomb at the water tank. Not only is contact with a purple mouse deadly, but given the chance, they will make kamikaze dives at you at very high speed.

The bomb itself is not a sign of danger, but eventually, a white mouse will appear with a match. The game will warn you when the fuse is lit. To snuff the fuse, go all the way the the left and fall past the fuse.

The stage ends when the main tank empties out, and you receive a bonus depending on how much water you get to the shower. You lose a life if the tank blows or if a purple mouse gets you.

Frisky Tom KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 3.90 (1 vote)

Fun Factor: 3.80

Overall Like	4.00
Fun (Social)	3.00
Fun (Solo)	4.00
Collector Desire	4.00

Technical Rating: 4.00

Gameplay	4.00
Graphics	4.00
Originality	4.00
Sound/Music	4.00

Personal Impressions and Technical Impressions each account for half of the total score. Within the Personal Impressions category, Like carries a little more weight than the other factors.

Images

Trivia

On the flyer it reads "Nichibutsu original custom C.P.U. was used for the first time in video games".

VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Frisky Tom Census

There are 15,211 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 9,644 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 166,563 machines (6,981 unique titles).

Uncommon - There are 13 known instances of this machine owned by Frisky Tom collectors who are active members. Of these, 10 of them are original dedicated machines. 3 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

Wanted - There are 2 active VAPS members currently looking for Frisky Tom. There is one active VAPS member looking for a Frisky Tom circuit board set.

This game ranks a 2 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

This game ranks a 3 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

Rarity and Popularity independently are not necessarily indications of value. [More Information]

Flyers

Manuals

Frisky Tom - Schematics - Frisky Tom Manual — **Frisky Tom - Schematics**
(2 pages, 808 kB File)

Service Instruction - Frisky Tom Manual — **Service Instruction**
(22 pages, 3.8 MB File)

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